Carthage

Carthage

The city of Carthage, which is located on the outskirts of Tunisia’s capital city, Tunis, was, for many years, the arch-enemy of the ancient Roman empire. Between 264 and 146 BC, the two great cities were embroiled in a series of wars that saw Hannibal’s famous attack on Rome, and Rome’s subsequent sacking of Carthage in 146 BC. The Romans eventually settled in the conquered city, which went on to become the administrative capital of Roman Africa. Today, it is mainly Roman sites, including theatres, temples, villas and baths, which can be seen by visiting tourists. Many of the sites now stand in ruins, including the Roman Amphitheatre and the thermal Antoine Baths, which were once the largest baths built by the Romans. Visitors can gain a superb view of Carthage by climbing the nearby Byrsa Hill.

Who has not heard of Hannibal and this city who dared brave the might of Rome? Now the ruins of both these great empires lay open to the sun and wildflowers. Declared a national monument the town of Carthage and nearby Salammbo abound in vestiges of the Punic and Roman empires, baths, dwellings, temples, shrines and the fabulous naval port of the Carthaginians.

The hill of Byrsa, where in the 8th century BC, Carthage was founded by the legendary Princess Elissa-Dido, is a storehouse of history .Newly restored, the former cathedral of Saint Louis, which crowns the hill is now a cultural center and the nearby national museum of Carthage holds an impressive collection of Punic statues, steles and urns . How strange that this breathtakingly beautiful site should have been the theater of such violence, as a Roman historian wrote of the fall of Carthage "the city was then razed and burnt to the ground and the accursed land covered with salt to ensure its barrenness."

For a thousand years, Phoenicians were masters of the Mediterranean and over 200 war ships and innumerable merchant vessels were sheltered in the nearby port of Salammbo. At its center the Admirals island still exists and archeologists are reconstituting the pavilion with its shrine and docks. Next to the ports the ancient sanctuary of the goddess Tanit (Tophet) a quiet, shady square of hundreds of funeral steles.

The Romans returned to Carthage and built on its ruins a new Carthage resplendent with great buildings, theaters, villas and baths. Carthage became the administrative capital for Africa and its importance can be seen in the Antoinine Thermal baths, one of the largest built under the Roman empire with the "cool room" an amazing 47 meters long and 15 meters high. The Roman theater is still used today for the summer festival of Carthage.

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